Back in the distant past of 1990 when Sampras won his first US Open, he was one of the stronger hardcourt baseline players around -- although he did play serve & volley as well. Check out his matches against Lendl and McEnroe from that tournament. He completely overpowered McEnroe. That may not seem like much of an achievement now, but it was a big deal then.

In the pre Hewitt and Safin etc era Sampras was easily the second best baseliner behind Agassi when not playing on clay. He could handle Agassi on the faster courts because a better serve and better volleys. Great allround player at that time, later Hewitt could rundown every shot without making a mistake and than pass him when he got to the net, Safin just simply overpowered him. Of course maybe Pete wasn't at his physical prime then but I suspect that the game also moved to a higher level.

Who haven't watched tennis in 90s like I did, he can easily check and compare overall speed, power and precision, shots / spins variety and difficulty + other details as well. Camera doesn't lie. "fast courts" myth is bs.

Who haven't watched tennis in 90s like I did, he can easily check and compare overall speed, power and precision, shots / spins variety and difficulty + other details as well. Camera doesn't lie. "fast courts" myth is bs.

Rackets and strings were much different then, which give today's players the ability to hit shots players of the past, even in the 90's could not execute.

Who haven't watched tennis in 90s like I did, he can easily check and compare overall speed, power and precision, shots / spins variety and difficulty + other details as well. Camera doesn't lie. "fast courts" myth is bs.

Sampras was incredibly dangerous from the baseline, he had fantastic groundstrokes and could slice very well

obviously people talk a lot of talk if you've got one of the best serves ever but it doesn't take long to go check out some videos of his old matches and see him handling some of the best baseline players ever handedly. I mean Agassi is arguably one of the most dangerous players of all time to go mano e mano on the baseline with, and Sampras managed to do that many times

The term servebot was only invented by Dulltards to make fun of players who can actually hit the most important shot in tennis. Somehow running for miles and looping moonballs is more respectable to Dulltards than being able to serve well and have the balls to be aggressive.

It's also curious the way he retired, many people think that he retired in 2002 after the US Open, but that was not the case, he just pulled off of the AO and RG (he was sick or injured, I can't remember, maybe somebody here knows the details) and then he realized in Wimbledon 2003 that he didn't have the desire anymore, although by 2003 and after being out for six months it would have been very difficult for him to defeat Federer.

I definitely agree with No1emania. Recently there was a thread about it and somebody posted some statistics about it - average number of aces and I don't remember what else. It didn't support that famous myth about faster courts in 90s. But now I can't find that post.

Sampras did have weaknesses. His low backhand volley was suspect in his early years. His ultra-flat forehand would sometimes hemorrhage errors, especially early in his career. Most obviously, his topspin backhand was technically flawed, and when hardcourts started bouncing higher and polyester strings began adding more spin on top of that, his backhand became a liability.

He was in no way a "servebot," though. His forehand, when on, was the most devastating groundstroke in the sport. Sampras would hang out in the ad court and as soon as his opponent dared to hit to his forehand, he'd just blast it away for a winner, even on the run. His forehand volley is one of the greatest of all time. In fact, his forehand half-volley probably is the greatest of all time. His backhand volley was also strong and later in his career he began controlling low backhand volleys better as well. The idea that Sampras was not that great of a volleyer is complete nonsense. He was also very fast and his footwork was excellent.

Sampras did have weaknesses. His low backhand volley was suspect in his early years. His ultra-flat forehand would sometimes hemorrhage errors, especially early in his career. Most obviously, his topspin backhand was technically flawed, and when hardcourts started bouncing higher and polyester strings began adding more spin on top of that, his backhand became a liability.

He was in no way a "servebot," though. His forehand, when on, was the most devastating groundstroke in the sport. Sampras would hang out in the ad court and as soon as his opponent dared to hit to his forehand, he'd just blast it away for a winner, even on the run. His forehand volley is one of the greatest of all time. In fact, his forehand half-volley probably is the greatest of all time. His backhand volley was also strong and later in his career he began controlling low backhand volleys better as well. The idea that Sampras was not that great of a volleyer is complete nonsense. He was also very fast and his footwork was excellent.

Yeah but none of those skills are real tennis because he couldn't grind on clay and survive in Nadal's era.